New guidelines to focus on harm rather than amount of money involved
Aviva has welcomed the Sentencing Council’s consultation on new sentencing guidelines for fraud, bribery and money laundering offences.
The consultation opened on Thursday, and will run until 4 October this year.
The proposed new guidelines aim to focus more on the level of harm done to defrauded individuals, rather than just the amount of money involved, which the current sentencing guidelines are based on.
The council can issue only guidelines and has no sentencing power.
The new guidelines would help insurers because they could result in more punitive sentences for those committing insurance fraud such as cash for crash scams.
Welcoming the consultation, Aviva head of fraud Tom Gardiner said: “There is more than £2bn of undetected fraud each year that pushes up premiums for everyone and is often linked to wider criminal and antisocial behaviour.
“In the case of cash for crash claims, public safety is put at risk by criminals deliberately causing accidents and diverting emergency services away from real need. Aviva currently has more than 5,000 suspicious injury claims linked to known fraud rings - an increase of 20% since 2011.
“It’s increasingly likely that if you commit insurance fraud then we will catch you. But the fight against fraud starts with an effective deterrent and having adequate and consistent sentencing.
“A recent consumer survey by Aviva showed that 17% of people knew someone who had faked or exaggerated a whiplash injury, and that 66% of people surveyed supported stronger deterrents for insurance fraud.”
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